Lower Court Farmhouse

Lower Court Farmhouse is a farmhouse, originally three houses, now divided into two. It dates to the 17th century, with alterations made in the 18th and 19th centuries. The building is constructed of stone rubble and brick, with a plain-tile roof. It features projecting stone eaves stacks with brick upper shafts in a restored star shape and caps. The house has an L-shaped plan, comprising a main north-south range and a west cross wing to the rear. One house occupies the two gabled wings, and the other occupies the linking bay to the rear and a 20th-century extension to the side.

The south front has a projecting gable to the right and a rear cross wing to the left. The gable includes a 5-light 20th-century casement window at the top, a 2-light casement in the attic, and a 19th-century projecting entrance porch with ornate framing incorporating a tablet bearing the initials CHRB on the ground floor. The left return side has a lean-to covering a 20th-century entrance door and a 2-light casement at the first floor. The south front of the cross wing is partly obscured by a lean-to with a 3-light casement, and also contains a 20th-century 3-light casement with top lights to the first floor, a 19th-century 3-light casement with top lights on the ground floor, and a further 2-light casement.

The east side features a central brick panel set between flanking walls of rubble stone. Two carved stone tablets are inset into the brick, the upper bearing a raised crest and the lower having a chamfered raised edge with an inscription. Above the tablets are three eroded figured corbels. A projecting 19th-century open porch with a plain beaded door frame and an old boarded, nail-studded door with iron band hinges is located centrally at ground-floor level. To the left of the porch is a 17th-century lattice-leaded mullion and transom window, flanked by two lower lights built into stone, with the entire window bricked in internally. A large 20th-century casement is positioned below. To the right is a two-storey, two-window range of 3-light casements and a large 20th-century casement with top lights. The west gable end has an oak-framed attic window with chamfered mullions and reveals, and a ground-level area covered by 20th-century single-storey brick extensions.

The rear, facing north, has two large projecting stone stacks with an advanced wall between them. A 3-light casement is situated in the centre, with a 20th-century casement below. The main range has a cellar. The ground-floor structure features extensive deep bridging beams with quadruple-beaded chamfer-moulds, and floor joists with a double-bead and a central flute soffit moulding, possibly reset. The north bay of the main range has two deep-chamfered bridging beams with ogee stops at both floors, square-framed internal cross-frames incorporating chamfered door openings. A first-floor stone fireplace includes a deep-chamfered mantlebeam and chamfered reveals. The roof has restored double purlins. An inscription on the east wall reads: “ERECTED BY THOMAS HOPTON ESQ AND MARGARET HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER TO ADAM LUTLEY ESQ ANNO DOMINI 1602”. The porch tablet initials refer to Sir Charles Henry Rouse-Boughton of Downton Hall (1825-1906), the landlord responsible for many mid-19th century modernizations in the district.